Pieter has shared his plans for Sasha, the repeating crossbow!
Crafting the Essence of Death and Nature: Pieter’s LARP Druid Staff Project
Today, we embark on yet another exciting project journey from Pieter of Arcana that started with a familiar question: “Could you make something…?” And as always, the enthusiastic response was, “Sure, if you can describe what you would like and it sparks an idea.”
So here we are, with a raw sketch and a brief in hand, ready to delve into the creation of a unique LARP Druid Staff. The brainchild of the talented Pieter, this staff is envisioned to embody the essence of the All Father, encapsulating themes of death, decay, and autumn. Picture a dark, mysterious staff that, despite its ominous aura, maintains a distinctive connection to the natural world.
The foundation of this project lies in a rough sketch—a mere representation of the idea’s potential. Remember, in the world of creativity, it’s the idea that counts. Alongside the sketch, there’s a brief description guiding the design process.
Pieter’s vision is clear: a staff that is both dark and recognizably wooden. The challenge? To infuse the staff with the essence of the All Father, creating an object that breathes the very spirit of death and decay. Adding an element of the Were Bear, a creature akin to the werewolf but with a bear’s touch, introduces an intriguing twist. Claw marks adorn the sketch, leaving a mysterious tale in their wake.
The aim is to maintain a height of 180 cm for the staff, ensuring a commanding presence on the LARP battlefield. Imagine wielding this mystical creation, a tangible connection to the forces of nature and the mysteries of the All Father.
To enhance the mystique, Pieter envisions the staff featuring a recognizable sickle—a symbol of harvest, death, and the cyclical nature of life. To push the boundaries further, he contemplates the inclusion of subtle traces of blood, adding an element of grim reality to the fantastical design.
Pieter’s Airbrushed Metallic Blades
Pieter from Arcana is back at it again: these swords were shaped using a belt sander with 80 grit. He notes that this left the surface to coarse and looking a bit pitted. Higher grit sandpaper might leave the surface smoother, and heat treating the foam could potentially get rid of the last bumps, but Pieter hasn’t tested that theory yet.
The swords are first painted with black latex and then sealed using plastidip. After this sealing, the swords were primed for any available kind of paint. In this case Pieter airbrushed heavily diluted silver and bronze metallic model paint. Then the swords were sealed again with plastidip.
New page up on Fiberglass Cores
Solid fiberglass rods are the go-to core technology for boffer swords. They are affordable, easy to use, and durable. We heartily recommend them, and detail their usage in our latest component guide.
Electroluminescent Wire
Want to see something cool? Pieter of Arcana in the Netherlands shares a successful experiment in Electroluminescent Wire on a larp weapon.
Inspired by this illustration, this sword is 1.5m long, with two AAA batteries in the handle and a converter housed near the crossguard.
When powered on, the neon string lights up.
And finally, a quick video. We’d never seen this done before, it looks like a really neat way to improve a weapon for a fantasy/scifi game. Thanks for sharing your creations, Pieter!
If you’ve got something new or interesting in the world of foamsmithing, write in to contact@foamsmithing.com – we’d love to hear about it!
Hi-Tech Sword Building for New People
Solusar of Belegarth has a great gallery/tutorial on his blue sword build, with good details like tip-foam teeth, a tip-biscuit, and a non-mushroom-cap stabbing tip. Lots of interesting commentary. We recommend it highly: Solusar’s Hi-Tech Sword Building for New People
Forged Foam Fries
Forged Foam has a sale going on for reblade kits. If you go through swords like a lightsaber goes through batteries, take a look – five boffer blades for the price of six.
Warlord Sports on Foam Durability
Sir Brennon Viridian (of Amtgard’s Celestial Kingdom) at Warlord Sports has devised several methods for testing foam durability. It’s a great read. The article puts a set of small squares of Fun Noodle, Drill Spot, Duratube, Aethertube, and MC foams through a series of destructive events and has telling pics of the results.
Why PVC Sucks
John and I were having a discussion regarding different core materials for javelins. A lot of people, including me, have argued for a long time that PVC is completely useless as a core material for boffer weapons. Not “bad” or “substandard” but completely worthless, put it with lead pipes and cardboard tubes, nobody should ever use it again. Continue reading “Why PVC Sucks”